This is Optimal Health Daily.

Why do muscle cramps happen?

By Kate Galliott of Fitfor RealLife.substack.com.

And I'm Dr. Neal, your very own personal narrator.

This is one of a few shows where we read to you from blogs for free,

so that you don't have to read them yourself.

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today's post as we optimize your life. Why do muscle cramps happenen by Kate Galiate,

A Fit for Real Life.substack.com

What is a muscle cramp anyways?

You know the feeling.

You're in the middle of a movement and all of a sudden your muscle locks up in a ball.

Or you're laying in bed at night and move just

so, and your calf cramps intensely. There are muscle cramps that come from having a deeper issue,

like metabolic myopathy or a peripheral nerve disorder. Those are outside the realm of this conversation.

Now, you might be cramping because you have a sodium or magnesium imbalance.

This can be especially true if your diet is not nutrient-rich, or if you're an athlete who expends

a high volume of sweat during training without proper replenishment. But salt or magnesium levels

are not the instigator for many muscle cramps. Lawrence Z. Stern and Charles Bernic write in their book, Clinical Methods, quote,

normal voluntary motor activity depends on the functional integrity of not only the motor unit,

comprising a lower motor neuron and the muscle fibers it innervates, but also the descending

...